


Glasses and Basilisk Eyes

by Lukenthius



Series: Harry Potter OneShots [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Basilisks, Bullying, Cruel Gryffindors, Gen, Hogwarts Second Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 07:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18132557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lukenthius/pseuds/Lukenthius
Summary: Thank Merlin Harry wears glasses! What if Gyffindor house didn't take too well to learning Harry was a parcelmouth?What if Harry ran into the basilisk one night?With Harry no longer able to save the day, will Dumbledore step up?





	Glasses and Basilisk Eyes

Harry trudged up to the common room after having hidden on the third floor. It was almost curfew and the teachers would kill him if they found him out this late. Especially with all those attacks. Not that it mattered. Everyone but Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Neville thought he did it. Dean and Seamus hadn’t said anything either way but still...

He sighed and said the password, the Fat Lady giving him a sad look as she opened. The common room went silent as he slid in, everyone turned to look at him. He had just taken a step forward to go straight up to his dorm when the seventh year boys all blocked his way.

“Hey Potter. Get out of here. We don’t want any evil, slimy snakes like you in here.”

Harry took a step back. “W-what? I’m not-“

“He’s right. We took a house vote and everyone agrees. You’re not welcome here. Get out.”

“Piss off Slytherin.”

“Slimy snake!”

“Freak!”

Harry looked around but was unable to see any of his friends through the crowd that had now gathered. Almost everyone in the tower was shouting out now, calling and shouting for him to leave. He looked over at the Head-Boy only to get a fist to the face. He staggered backwards and stared up at him in shock. There was a moment of complete silence before Harry turned and bolted out of the tower.

He’d had grief from the other Gryffindors loads of times but they’d never gotten physical... not even when he lost all those points last year.

Harry slowed down and realised he had gone down a few floors. He was now on the third floor, near where fluffy had been. He sat down on a window ledge and drew his knees up to his chest, burying his eyes in his knees. Why? Why would they do that?

Harry froze as he heard something coming. He stood up, pulling his glasses back into place from where they’d been moved by his knees. He looked around cautiously.

There!

He turned to face his left, wand in hand. There was something just around the corner. He noticed a giant scaly snout poking around the corner and turned, running away. He rounded a corner and passed through a ghost and dropped to his knees. “There’s some kind of giant... snake or something back there.” He turned and looked at the ghost, recognising the Grey Lady. “Get help.”

She nodded and ran through a wall. Harry looked back at the corridor he’d just ran down just as that scaly face poked past again and he got a view of bright yellow eyes.

.oOo.

Everyone was seated in the great hall for breakfast. Everyone noticed Potter wasn’t there. Just as breakfast was getting underway the headmaster stood up.

“Everyone. I have an announcement.” The hall quieted and everyone looked towards him. “Last night... Mister Potter was found, petrified, on the third floor.”

Noise erupted in the hall. The Gryffindors all erupted into chaos, fingers pointing, accusations made. The head-boy was slugged. McGonagall rushed down the hall to settle the argument, the entire hall silencing to watch the drama. “What is going on here? Break it up, boys!” With a few swishes of her wand the boys were separated and she put her fists on her hips. “Now. What happened?”

Simon Matrisse glared at Gabe Westford, the head boy. “He convinced us all that since Potter was the heir of Slytherin then we should kick him out the house. We silenced and bound Potter’s friends... Gabe socked him and he ran off. It’s our fault he wasn’t in the common room last night. Mostly his, but we all played a part...”

McGonagall pursed her lips and glared down at the seventh years who all looked down, ashamed. “Well, Mister Potter isn’t the heir of Slytherin. He did say as much. Repeatedly. That you not only refused to listen to him _and_ not only attacked him and forced him out of the common room... I must say I have never, _Never_ , been so disappointed in my house.” She looked over at the hourglass. “I would take points from each of you but we don’t have enough to express my anger. I’m taking every point Gryffindor has and all of you will be forbidden from attending Hogsmead this year, you will all have curfew two hours earlier, you are all confined to the common room during weekends, including quidditch matches, for the next... two months and you will all be writing me a... four foot essay on proper behaviour and bullying! I am completely disgusted in you all!” she looked over the entire house.

Simon stepped forward. “Professor, the first years were sent to their dorms at the start of the house meeting, they had nothing to do with it. The second and third years were all hushed and quieted, we mostly ignored them. All four Weasleys, Granger, Longbottom, Thomas, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Wood and Jordan were all _incarcerous_ ’ed and silenced. They all said we shouldn’t.”

McGonagall nodded and walked down the table to where Potter’s friends were sitting with the first years. “Since you all had nothing to do with it, you are exempt from the same punishments as the others. Third years, you are still not allowed to go to Hogsmead, but the rest doesn’t apply.”

The third years nodded nervously. The Hogsmead restriction was the worst for them, as they had all been looking forward to going for ages. She looked to the quidditch team. “Since it seems the entire team was against this, I won’t be disbanding the team this year.” They inclined their heads towards her, thanking her quietly, though they all knew that without a seeker, they were kind of doomed.

McGonagall looked over the students again. “If you protested what happened to Potter, one of you should have come to get me. We may have been able to find him in time.” She shook her head. “I am very disappointed in you all.”

She walked back up to the head table, leaving the hall silenced. As soon as she sat down the other three houses broke into whispers. Never before had an entire house lost all of their points, and received detention like that. And the fact that they locked Potter out of the common room with the heir of Slytherin skulking about...

“Well, I guess the heir of Slytherin got sick of Potter taking all his credit...”

“If it wasn’t Potter, who could it be?”

“He was a Parseltongue... I was so sure...”

At first the whispers were curious but then, something changed.

“If this thing beat Potter... what’s to stop it getting all of us?”

“Yeah, Potter beat the Dark Lord when he was a baby and this thing beat him... we’re doomed.”

The whispers became panicked. Within a few seconds the entire hall was panicking. Ginny collapsed into tears on the table. Ron rubbed her back. “Ginny... it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

She sobbed harder. “Yes, it was. It was my fault. I found a cursed diary. It’s been what was making me attack everyone! It was all my fault! All of them!”

Hermione hugged her with one arm. “What do you mean, Ginny?”

Ginny pulled a small black Diary from her bag.

Ron frowned. “That’s Tom Riddle’s diary... you stole it?”

Ginny nodded. “I found it in my charms book when we got home from Diagon Alley. I thought mum got it for me. It wrote back and he was so nice...”

Percy shook his head. “Ginny... what is it dad is always telling us? Don’t trust anything if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.” He reached over and picked up the diary. “I’m turning this in.” He walked up to the staff table. “Professors. Ginny had this cursed diary. She’s convinced this is what caused the attacks.” He handed it over to Professor McGonagall.

She looked down at the diary. “Really now?”

The headmaster leant over and carefully picked up the diary. He looked at the first page and paled drastically. “It would seem this is indeed what is causing the attacks. “Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Mr Weasley.”

McGonagall looked sharply at him. “Don’t you award points for this, Albus. It would completely undermine my punishment just now.” She turned to Percy. “We will investigate this. Thank you for bringing it to our attention, Mister Weasley.”

Percy inclined his head and hurried back to his sister, who was now completely inconsolable.

.oOo.

Albus looked down at the diary. “If this is indeed what I think it is, I believe an award for services to the school is in order.”

Minerva huffed. “Don’t be ridiculous Albus. All he did was turn in a cursed item. It’s part of his duties as a prefect.”

Filius nodded. “This isn’t the kind of thing we normally give special services awards to.”

Snape nodded. “Indeed. And if you reward Weasley for this, it will, as Minerva said, completely undermine the punishment.” He turned to Minerva. “I am slightly surprised at how light you were on them, all things considered. I would have expected detentions.”

Minerva smirked at him. “And would you be willing to supervise those detentions? I was punishing almost the entire house. None of us have the time to spare for all those detentions. Don’t worry though, those most responsible will be given additional punishment for this. Would you be willing to supervise some of those detentions? I know how much my lions _hate_ having detention with you.”

Severus nodded. “Why of course. And the feeling is mutual. They never learn from their mistakes.”

Pomona nodded. “I think this sent a message to the entire school. I doubt they will be doing something like this for a while. It was an embarrassment to the whole of Gryffindor house.”

Filius nodded, folding his arms. “I think they would see the points loss and embarrassment as worse than Severus’ detentions.”

Severus smirked. “We’ll see about that. On a completely unrelated note, Pomona, how are those mandrakes?”

Pomona smiled slightly. “They are going well. They are maturing just as they should. There haven’t been any problems with them so hopefully it will be a full, healthy batch.”

Severus nodded. “Good. I will make sure I have the rest of the ingredients ready.”

Albus nodded and leant backwards. “What do we do about this?”

Minerva picked it up. “I am taking it to the DoM. They will be able to identify it and tell us if it is capable of possessing someone if Miss Weasley’s statements are anything to go by.”

Poppy sighed and shook her head. “Poor girl... the scans all show she was definitely possessed, but it’s the mental damage of knowing what she did while possessed, and the fear of not knowing what was going on at the time, that’s causing most of the problems. I have suggested a good mind-healer to Molly and Arthur. She’s agreed to do it free of charge considering the circumstances.”

Minerva nodded slowly. “Good. I don’t know how Molly will take it, you know how she is. But still, she would get the help for her daughter, regardless of personal insult.”

The rest of the staff nodded.

.oOo.

Harry looked back at the corridor he’d just ran down just as that scaly face poked past again and he got a view of bright yellow eyes.

He blinked and was suddenly in the hospital wing. He shot upright and looked around frantically, unsure as to how he’d gotten into the hospital wing or how he ended up lying down. He looked at Professor McGonagall who was gently pushing him back down. “Professor! There’s-”

“We know, Mister Potter. It’s okay. The problem has been dealt with. We found out what was causing the attacks and have dealt with the issue. We don’t know where Slytherin’s monster is but it hasn’t shown up since we dealt with the issue.”

Harry nodded. “What was it, professor? It looked like a giant snake.”

McGonagall shook her head. “We don’t know. Mister Creevey couldn’t tell us anything, Sir Nickolas couldn’t really describe it and Mr Finch-Fletchly didn’t see it very clearly. You said it was some kind of snake?”

Harry nodded and narrowed his eyes. “It was big... almost half the height of the corridor upwards... I have no idea how long it was... it was definitely a snake. Its eyes were a kind of acid yellow.”

McGonagall nodded. “Thank you, Mister Potter. That will definitely help us find out what it was.”

Harry looked her over. “You already know...”

She stood up and cleared her throat. “Miss Michaels, a seventh year Ravenclaw, has opened her home to you, Mister Creevey and Mister Finch-Fletchly this summer to study for your exams, unless you decide to skip this year, as you missed so much of it. It would mean returning as a second year next year.”

Harry nodded slowly. “How long was I petrified?”

“There is one week left of the school year.”

Harry took a sharp breath. “Oh. Right...” he frowned. “I don’t think I’ll be able to pass my exams any time soon... I would prefer to stay back a year...”

McGonagall nodded. “That was what Mister Creevey and Mister Finch-Fletchly decided as well.”

Harry nodded and lay back on the bed.

What a year... he’d missed most of it. What were Ron and Hermione going to think? What did he care? They didn’t speak up for him. No, he was going to stay back a year and start second year from scratch. He was going to get to know the second years and hopefully make new friends who won’t abandon him so easily.

Yes, next year was going to be better.


End file.
